Mexico – Second Presidential Debate All About Trump, Memes And “El Bronco”

The second Mexican presidential debate was quite a punch-throwing, an insult-exchanging show which didn’t change a lot in the polls and once again served as a platform for independent candidate Jaime “El Bronco” Rodríguez. That was the overall summary of another Sunday evening in which no candidate came close to stopping left-wing favorite Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Mr. Jaime Rodríguez, or ‘El Bronco’ as his supporters call him, was squirting out phrases in his typically provocative style, trying to copy US President Donald Trump, but so far has single-digit support only.

The memes on social media about both him and Mr. Obrador mimicking the translator were afterward omnipresent. Mexicans are clearly interested in who will become their next President, as show the 2 million tweets about the subject.

However, it more and more seems like a race that has already been run. Left-wing Mr. Obrador currently holds a very wide lead over his nearest rivals. With 40 to 45% of all votes going to him, it is unclear how his only true opponent, conservative candidate Mr. Anaya, who currently trails him by at least 15%, is ever going to catch up.

Mr. Anaya said about Mr. Obrador: “the problem is that your ideas are very old … the problem is not that you don’t speak English. The problem is that you don’t understand the world”.

The candidates all laid out their criticism of US President Donald Trump, but none offered any clear indication of how they would handle him.

Mr. Obrador stated: “I want a relationship of friendship, but not of subordination,” and adding that his plan on foreign relations would be to concentrate on Mexico itself: “the best foreign policy is domestic policy.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Anaya tried to play his hand in the border conflict with the US, claiming that “In security they need us a lot.”

“El Bronco” Rodriguez lastly stated that under his leadership Mexico would put the US “In their place”.